Chapter 9
They were stood on top of a small, rocky outcrop by the side of a tranquil sea. Sky-reaching pine trees surrounded them on three sides but they had landed in a small clearing about seven yards square which looked straight out at the open water to a long, barren looking island which kept the sea calm. Purple heather grew in patches around the edges of the wooded areas and she could smell their soft scent on the wind mingled with a mild seaweed aroma. A small peninsula jutted out into the sea in front of them where gentle waves lapped against the barnacle covered rocks and over head seagulls cawed and flew, occasionally diving when they spotted prey in the peaceful water.
"Where are we?" she asked breathlessly drinking in the wonderful surroundings.
"Somewhere on the west coast of Scotland," he replied enclosing her deeper in his embrace, "I had to stay out here once on assignment and I always thought it was breath taking. I knew it would be a perfect secluded spot in which to spend the day." She turned around to look at him and gave him a deep longing kiss before scampering down to the end of the jutting rocks and exploring the various rock pools which she found there. James watched her go, her long wavy hair bouncing along behind her reflecting the bright sun as it shone down on them. He followed her a few minutes later and together they clambered to the very end of the peninsula where they sat down on a rock and he enclosed her once more in his arms as they watched the world go by. There weren't any other people nearby and they could have been the only two souls in the world; however a multitude of birds and sea animals passed them including a black seal who popped his head out of the sea as he swam up the sound.
After a while they stood up and made their way to the small, close knit crop of trees which surrounded their little spot and started to explore them. It was dark inside but much warmer than it was by the side of the water; James led the way following deer paths which had been made through the most navigable ways and they scampered through climbing up a steep hill until they came out in another clearing, much higher then where they had been. A few more steps took them to the top of the hill and when they turned around they could see over the tops of the trees and out to the island across the water. They were surrounded by mountains covered in pine trees and heather and upon closer inspection James noticed a small family of deer on the next hill, feeding. Their footsteps disturbed them and though they stood extremely still after a few nervous glances the animals bounded away over the top of the hill flashing their white tails as they bounced out of sight.
They spent much of the day exploring hidden caves and old crumbling cottages that had been uninhabited for decades all hidden away and forgotten about by the fir trees growing wildly around them. As the sky turned darker James led them back down to the small clearing where they had originally apparated to and withdrew a small tin from his pocket about the size of a wand box. He took the lid off as she watched on completely intrigued by what he had planned next and he took out of it a pile of soft cushions, two woollen blankets and a small picnic hamper. She gasped as he quickly spread one blanket and the cushions on the ground and beckoned for her to sit down. She did so and then he used his wand to light a small, but contained, fire at one edge of the blanket which he built up until it gave off a soft heat. Dropping to the floor beside her he opened up the small hamper and withdrew a bottle of red wine, a loaf of homemade bread, some chicken pieces and a simple salad which he put out on plates for them both to enjoy. "James, this is absolutely amazing," she whispered almost totally speechless at the romanticness of the day; in all the months they had been seeing each other in secret they had never actually been anywhere as a couple, except for one another's houses.
"I'm glad you're enjoying it," he replied filling her glass with wine. "I wanted to give you a real day to remember before I have to go," he went on looking at her slightly guiltily as he mentioned that he would be leaving again.
"Well I certainly won't forget this one," she breathed before tucking into the simple but stunning food he had brought with him.
By the time they had eaten all the food, including a pumpkin pie which had been hiding in the bottom of the basket, the sky above them had turned black and tiny white dots shone out of it; she shivered as the cool wind blew around them both and James moved his body to sit behind hers and pulled her back to lean on his chest. He folded his arms around her and then with a flick of his wand and a wordless spell he created a small, clear bubble which encased them and the small fire, immediately cutting out the wind and the chill of the night. "Wow," she gasped turning her head to give him a kiss and then snuggling down to enjoy, once more, just being with him.
"Are you happy?" James asked a short while later. They had laid their bodies down side by side and she had her head on his chest gazing up at the dazzling stars which shone clearly in the night sky; they both kept trying to pick out constellations that they could remember studying in school.
"Yes," she sighed, "very."
"Are you sure?" he went on and she noticed the guilty tinge in his voice again.
"James Potter," she said turning onto her front and pushing him down so she could look at his face, "I have never been happier in my whole life than when I am with you. I have been ecstatic for the last eight months and nothing could make me happier!" she leaned down to kiss him as if to add confirmation to her statement and he echoed her movements with his own mouth. He had been thinking about telling her that he wanted to show the world their relationship but then decided against it; he didn't want it to be rushed out now before he left and knew if she thought he was going to do it she would spend the whole time he was away thinking about it. At least this way everything was still the same, he was making no more or less a commitment to her and he trusted her wholeheartedly to remain faithful to him while he was gone. She had been patient with him and knew why she had needed to be; he was convinced she would never do the same thing to him that Annemarie had done and knew waiting a little while longer to tell everyone would affect their relationship little now.
"So am I!" he replied as they broke apart and she turned her body and head back to the ceiling of the bubble to gaze up at the stars again.
"Is that the big dipper?" she asked pointing at a group of stars and James sat up onto his knees before looking up through the bubble appearing to study them hard. He made a few um and ar noises as he pointed at various ones and seemed to make calculations while she leaned forwards onto her own knees and gazed up.
"I have no idea," he replied laughing hard and turning to look at her. "But I can see a big dipper from here!," he chuckled pointing his finger at the deep crease between her breasts which was revealed by the v-necked top which she had worn.
"James," she shrieked softly batting his hand away as he moved it closer to her chest, "I thought you knew what you were doing then!"
"I always know what I'm doing!" he joked eying her lustfully and reaching back out towards her ample cleavage.
"I meant with the stars!" she threw back moving her body slightly away from him, something which was difficult to do in the enclosed space.
"Sorry," he replied dropping back onto his bottom beside her, "I only scraped acceptable in Astrology and dropped it before NEWT level; too many boring names to remember and star patterns to look at, used to make my eyes go squiffy! It definitely wasn't my forte! On the other hand however," he continued slyly sliding his hand around the back of her waist and looking into her scrutinous face, "these are definitely something that I am knowledgeable about!" With his other hand he reached up to softly run his index finger down her cleavage, grabbing her waist tightly as she tried to move away, "sorry," he said looking remorsefully at her and removing the finger. But she just laughed at him and threw her body against his pushing him back onto the pillows behind them and kissing him vigorously.
They were naked within minutes and made soft, slow, sensuous love to one another rolling over and over on the blanket out in the open air but encased in a small bubble, just the two of them. They were the only two people in their own little world at that moment, very much in love and desperate to show each other how much. They eventually stopped moving once they had both groaned deeply; she was above him rising and falling slowly while staring into the deep chocolate eyes which stared straight back into her blue ones. She had her hands on either side of him and when they were still she dropped her body onto his covering him with her hair which splayed across his face, chest and shoulders. They breathed raggedly for a few minutes before she rolled from above him and curled up in the nook of his arm snuggling against his shoulder and kissing the patch of skin by her mouth intermittently. "I love you so much," he eventually said turning onto his side to face her and pulling her deep into his embrace, "I have never not wanted to go on assignment so much before; even when I was with..." he left the space blank knowing she would fill it in for herself, "not even when I was going to Azkaban which I knew was going to drain me completely."
"James, you will be fine and when you are there you will want to be there; this is your job, it is what you have worked for, what you have trained for and I know there is a little bit of you that wants to take this particular mission for your family too." He had shared the contents of the file with her even though he knew he shouldn't have really but his father had once told him that he always shared assignments with his mother because he loved her so much and did not want to hide anything from her. James felt exactly the same about the girl in his arms, even though they had not known and loved each other for even a fraction of the time that his parents had when Harry was an auror. She had listened to the whole tale, including the fact that the mission had contained a double agent who had been covered up leaving James' mother to think her husband, and father of her unborn child, was dead. She would never share the information with anyone; not just because she knew working for the auror department meant absolute secrecy but also because he had trusted her with it, had shared it with her because he wanted her to know more about his life and his family. He had also told her that his father had done this when she had stopped him midway through the tale to ask if she should be privy to the information; she had gasped at his explanation of why he was telling her before listening avidly to the rest. When James had finished she had been gobsmacked that the auror office would attempt as serious a cover up as they had done and hoped that Beerney would never do anything as sinister during his time in office. At the end of the conversation James had also told her the passwords for his office "As a precaution!" he had laughed but she had known there was a tinge of seriousness to it as well.
"Just throw yourself into it as you always do!" she said stroking his cheek, "And you'll barely miss me at all!"
"Of course I'll miss you!" he shrieked looking down and glaring into her eyes.
"I know you will; what I mean is you'll be busy and will barely have time to miss me;, before you know it you'll have the bad guy locked up in Azkaban and be back in my bed driving me crazy with desire!"
"Is that what I do?" he asked mischievously wiggling his eyebrows.
"You know you do!" she replied in a sultry voice slapping his chest playfully and feeling herself tingle again at the thought.
"But what about you?"
"What about me?" she asked.
"Will you miss me?"
"Of course I will James; I'll be pining away day after day feeling sad and lonely!" she chuckled.
"Don't say that," he went on seriously pulling her tighter into his embrace, "I want you to miss me but I don't want you to be miserable."
"James, I'll survive, I've done it before and I'll do it again; don't be worrying about me; keep your eye on the mission and come home safely; I'll be fine. And besides I'll have your lot to keep me company deciding which of their colleagues and mates they are going to set you up with next!"
"Oh Merlin, are they doing that again?"
"Yep," she went on, "Jennie from the Muggle Relations department is top of Rose's list, she's got big boobs apparently!" she laughed as he rolled his eyes, "however Dominique wanted to set one of us up with you last night when they saw you flirting with Zelda, they definitely weren't impressed with her!"
"I wasn't flirting!" he barked back, "Oh Merlin no!" he shuddered at the thought.
"You looked quite cosy," she goaded.
"More like bored!" he replied rubbing her stomach lovingly with the hand he had around her body. "She's a nightmare; I can't actually believe that I ever used to go for girls like that! How can I have been so wrapped up in the blonde bimbos and not seen you, there all along, in the background?"
"Like a wall flower?" she asked stroking his cheek.
"No," he shrieked, "of course not; I mean I always thought you were pretty in a 'you're my cousin's friend' sort of way, but why did I never look at you before?"
"Because the blondes got in the way too early; your eyes were screwed up whenever you looked at me, which wasn't often!" she added quietly remembering again the years when she would have given her wand arm for a few words from James Potter.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again, I was stupid!" he said serenely stroking her chin with his finger and tilting her head up to meet his lips, "You must have tamed me!" he went on, "When I finally noticed you!"
"Me?" she asked and he nodded his head.
"But I like it," he added nuzzling her neck.
"I don't mind anyway."
"Don't mind what?" he asked curiously.
"That you ignored me for the last ten years or so."
"I didn't ignore you!"
"You didn't speak to me either unless you had no choice."
"I'm sorry," he answered looking down guiltily.
"Like I said, I don't mind!" she repeated reaching out to touch his face again.
"Why not?" he asked still feeling guilty that he had only ever seen her as his cousin's friend before.
"Because it made the wait all the more worth it!" she whispered leaning up to kiss him; before her lips met his she caught the briefest of smiles on his face. "And anyway if you had noticed me then you would only have shagged me and cast me aside, pretty much like you did the first time we did it!" she chuckled and he frowned but before he could try to apologise again she kissed him passionately showing him that it still didn't matter to her;, all that mattered was that they were together now in this wonderful, enclosed bubble.
They spent the night curled up under the blanket in the bubble; the tiny fire gave off a comfortable heat as they listened to the hoots of owls out in the forest and the swishing of trees from other nocturnal animals creeping around foraging for their food. In the morning they were reluctant to leave but, after making love again inside the bubble without words and with barely any sound, they packed up the small tin with their magically shrunken things and James apparated them back to the flat. He was spending much of the day with his family as he usually did before leaving on assignment but had asked her to return to the flat that night so he could spend one more morning waking up with her before he had to share a tent with three other aurors for an indefinable amount of time. Her face fell as she flooed out to her own home and she envied the people who would all be saying their goodbyes while she sat at home brewing over the fact that he was leaving again. She knew it had been a big risk falling for an auror but her heart couldn't have stopped if she had tried to make it; she was desperately in love with James Sirius Potter and knew this was the life she would have to live if the relationship continued any further into the future.
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Soft, grey as ash smoke billowed out of the cauldron giving off a sweet flowery smell as she added shaved alder bark to the mixture followed by a pinch of anise and a handful of ground pennywort herb; the mixture immediately turned a deep shade of cerise purple and the smoke became a lilac colour as it swirled in coils towards the ceiling. She laughed gently as she stirred the mixture and thought about the new plan; it was the next phase, a more solid and infallible idea that she would need to execute soon. Corking the now warmed liquid, which had brewed over the small fire for seven minutes until it had turned a more delicate shade of pink, she cleared up her equipment before anyone came in a saw what she had been doing; discretion was difficult in her situation but she was determined to keep it up. She was disturbed by someone entering the room a few seconds later and only just pocketed the mixture before they saw her; she hid it at the bottom of her robes where it would be safe from all prying eyes. The only thing she needed to find now was the perfect opportunity to use it.
